INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION 17th American Regional Meeting Santiago de Chile, 14 17 December 2010 AMRM/XVII/D.2 Information note Meeting venue and address Convention Center of the Sheraton Santiago Hotel Av. Santa María 1742 Santiago de Chile Tel.: +562 233 5000 Fax: +562 234 1732 Web site: www.sheraton.com/santiago Registration To enter the Convention Center, participants at the 17th American Regional Meeting will be required to carry an official identification badge, which must be collected personally at the Center Registration Desk, on presentation of a valid identity document containing a photograph. Registration will be open on Monday, 13 December, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., and will continue on Tuesday, 14 December, from 8 a.m. onwards. Please note that, in order to register, the credentials of national delegations must arrive at the office of the Legal Adviser of the ILO before Monday, 29 November 2010 (see attached form). Rules of procedure The Rules for Regional Meetings (2008) will govern the powers, functions and procedure of the 17th American Regional Meeting. Composition of delegations In accordance with article 1, paragraphs 1 and 4.1 of the Rules, each member State taking part in the Meeting is invited to send a tripartite delegation composed of two Government delegates, one Employers delegate and one Workers delegate, accompanied by such advisers as may be considered necessary. Article 1, paragraph 2, stipulates that Employers and Workers delegates and advisers shall be chosen in agreement with the industrial organizations, if such organizations exist, which are most representative of the employers or workers in the State or territory concerned. AMRM-XVII-2010-09-0039-1-En.doc/v4 1
Furthermore, in accordance with the resolution concerning the strengthening of tripartism in the overall activities of the International Labour Organization, adopted by the International Labour Conference at its 56th Session (1971), member States must send tripartite delegations whose members are able to act in full independence of one another. Finally, the resolution concerning ILO action for women workers, adopted by the Conference at its 78th Session (1991), calls on governments and employers and workers organizations to include more women in their delegations to meetings of the ILO. Financial arrangements The travel and subsistence expenses of the delegates and their advisers are to be borne by their respective governments (article 1, paragraph 1, of the Rules). Group meetings Governments, Workers and Employers will meet on Tuesday, 14 December, from 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., to elect their respective Officers and discuss, should they so wish, issues dealt with in the Director-General s reports. The groups will continue to meet throughout the Meeting. Summary of the programme The opening ceremony will take place on Tuesday, 14 December, from 2.15 p.m. to 3.30 p.m., and will be followed by a high-level event. Thereafter, activities will take the form of a discussion of the Director-General s report and four tripartite panels (dialogues), which will consider the following themes: Growth with employment, lessons from the crisis; the Global Wages Report 2010; the challenge of social protection for all; new trends in South South cooperation. The Meeting will adopt its report, conclusions and possible resolutions, and note the report of its Credentials Committee, on Friday, 17 December, as from 11.30 a.m., after which will follow the closing ceremony. Special events A high-level event will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, 14 December. Social events On Tuesday, 14 December, at 7 p.m., and on Wednesday, 15 December, at 8 p.m., the Director-General of the ILO and the Government of Chile will host receptions for participants. Discussion in plenary In plenary the order of speaking will be according to a list of speakers. It is essential for speakers to register on this list on the eve of the plenary sitting at which they wish to take the floor. To allow as many speakers as possible to intervene, article 10, paragraph 7, of the Rules stipulates that except with the unanimous consent of the Officers of the Meeting, no speech shall exceed five minutes. Speakers are thus urged to make their interventions brief 2 AMRM-XVII-2010-09-0039-1-En.doc/v4
and to the point, reducing complimentary remarks to a strict minimum. Participants who have a typed copy of their speech are requested to supply one example to the secretariat of the Meeting for communication to the interpreters. Dialogues These are to be interactive sessions, led by a moderator and with the participation of invited panellists; participants wishing to speak must request the floor from the moderator. Interpretation Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in Spanish and English. Documents The report of the Director-General, which will serve as a basis for the debates will be published in Spanish, French and English. The report of the Meeting, the report of the Credentials Committee, the conclusions and possible resolutions that the Meeting may adopt will be published in Spanish and English. Practical information Arrangements for travel and hotel reservations Delegates are invited to make their own travel arrangements and to reserve hotel rooms as far in advance as possible in order to benefit from favourable conditions negotiated by the ILO with various hotels in Santiago (see attached list of hotels). For practical reasons, it is recommended that delegates should make their reservations by returning to the hotel of their choice the respective reservation form. These can be downloaded from the Meeting web site at the following URL: www.oit.pe/americas2010. Reservations must be made before 31 October 2010, after which date the negotiated rates can no longer be guaranteed. Delegates who so wish may chose other hotels. Transport services Transport between the airport and the hotels on the attached list For transfers from the airport to the selected hotels participants must go to the ILO desk which will be situated in a visible area of the airport. This service will operate on a 24-hour basis and is payable by each participant. Transport between the hotels on the attached list and the Convention Center of the Sheraton Santiago Hotel Transport between the selected hotels and the Convention Center of the Sheraton Santiago Hotel will be free and will operate twice daily: early in the morning and at the end of the afternoon. AMRM-XVII-2010-09-0039-1-En.doc/v4 3
Passports and visas Participants are invited to consult the Chilean consulate in their own countries regarding the documents required and formalities to be fulfilled prior to entry into Chile. It should be noted that before passing through border control, holders of passports issued by Mexico, the United States and Canada may be required to pay a reciprocity fee. This fee amounts to US$23 for Mexican passport holders, US$131 for United States passport holders and US$150 for Canadian passport holders. The fee may be paid in cash, in US dollars, by bank card or by traveller s cheques. For holders of passports issued by the United States or by Canada, the fee is payable once only for the period of validity of the passport; for holders of Mexican passports, the fee covers a validity period limited to 90 days. Entry forms into Chile Passengers must submit to border control the entry form provided to them in the aircraft before landing. Sworn statement to the Farming and Livestock Service Passengers must make a sworn statement to the Farming and Livestock Service. The requisite form will be distributed in the aircraft and must be completed by passengers to the effect that their baggage contains no product or by-product of animal or vegetable origin. The following products must not enter the country Vegetable products: all types of fresh, dried or dehydrated fruit and vegetables; all types of reproductive vegetable material, including live plants, parts of plants, cuttings and bulbs; all types of seeds, including dual purpose seeds; all types of vegetable spices, herbs and condiments; earth or any vegetable that may contain earth; all types of wood trimmings or cuttings; all types of fir cones; all types of biological material. Animal products: live animals, including any species of animal that may be carried, pets, birds, etc.; fresh meat of any species and/or meat products; any type of daily consumable of animal origin, such as: fresh milk, cheese, butter, eggs; honey, pollen or pupae of bees; other reproductive material, such as semen. National Customs Service Chile prohibits and sanctions by law the possession and trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances, as well as any element, material instrument or equipment intended for the elaboration, fabrication, preparation or extraction of drugs, which constitutes a serious offence. If medication carried by a passenger is considered to be of a commercial nature, that is, when the quantities exceed the use and usual requirements of the consumer, such medication will be retained by the National Customs Service. Insurance Participants are strongly advised to obtain insurance coverage, either at their own, their government s or their organization s expense, against costs arising out of sickness, 4 AMRM-XVII-2010-09-0039-1-En.doc/v4
accident (including the cost of medical attention), temporary or permanent disability, death and third-party risks, for the entire duration of the Meeting, including travel time. The Office neither supplies insurance coverage nor accepts any liability for a participant s claim arising from a medical disorder arising before, during or after the Meeting. Participants are kindly advised that they should only travel when in good health, and are encouraged to pay serious attention to such medical procedures as may be introduced at departure and arrival points. Weather The minimum temperature varies between 10 and 12 C, while the maximum varies between 23 and 30 C. Rainfall is scant in the month of December. Contact information ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (Lima, Peru) Tel.: +511 615 0379 Fax: +511 615 0403 Email: airaldi@oit.org.pe ILO DWT and Country Office for the South Cone of Latin America (Santiago, Chile) Tel.: +562 580 5562 Fax: +562 580 5590 Email: vonderforst@oitchile.cl, with a copy to: RRA2010@oitchile.cl Web site of the 17th American Regional Meeting www.oit.org.pe/americas2010. AMRM-XVII-2010-09-0039-1-En.doc/v4 5